


Brothers Under The Sun

by AbschaumNo1



Series: Back to You [3]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: 5+1 Things, Friendship, Joke Mugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 06:57:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14038680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbschaumNo1/pseuds/AbschaumNo1
Summary: A story in five joke mugs (and one non-joke mug)





	Brothers Under The Sun

**Author's Note:**

> This started a while ago jumping off a little detail that ended up not making it into the finished version of _Your Love Will Take Me Home_.  
>  Thanks a lot to Megs, who cheered this on, and Ava, who helped me find the one mug I was missing and beta'ed! <3
> 
> Title from 'Brothers Under The Sun' by Bryan Adams

**1.**

Someone decides to do a Secret Santa. Brandon actually has no idea who, and if he’s completely honest he’s not sure he really cares. Either way, they do it and Brandon draws Shawzy’s name, which he thinks he can work with. It’s Shawzy, he’ll think of something. And at least it’s not Smitty, who’s such a damn good person that Brandon would feel compelled to get him something nice, instead of a joke gift.

Of course Shawzy is all over him trying to find out who he got, so Brandon ends up putting the slip of paper with his name in his pocket and destroys it for good measure once he’s home, because you never know with Shawzy.

Actually finding something ends up being harder than he thought. None of the gifts he sees are chirp material, and even if they are they’re just not… Shawzy enough. Brandon ends up fucking around on the internet a whole long while before he finally finds a mug that just screams perfect at him. He grins and orders it immediately.

When Shawzy rips the paper off the plain white mug and reads out the “Shuh Duh Fuh Cup” slogan on it, he starts laughing.

“That was Bollig. A hundred percent.”

“Why me?” Brandon mock protests, which just makes Shawzy laugh more. They end up wrestling on the floor. This was definitely a successful Secret Santa. They only have to get NHL hockey back now.

 

**2.**

As Shawzy’s friend, Brandon has a front row seat to watch his whole epic love story with Seabs. It’s kind of cute actually, even if the loving looks they throw each other occasionally make Brandon want to barf. Still, Shawzy’s old enough to know what he’s doing so Brandon simply makes it clear that he’s not afraid to fuck up Seabs’ everything if this ends badly, and that’s that.

He chirps Shawzy mercilessly about agreeing to raise Carter with Seabs - and Brandon can't quite believe that Shawzy offered to do that this early into their relationship - but they both know he doesn’t mean it. He’s actually impressed that Shawzy’s being this responsible and even more so by how well he steps up to the task. And well, Shawzy is obviously happy with it so Brandon couldn’t criticise his decision even if he wanted to.

He finds the mug by accident when he’s out in Chicago one day. He can see Shawzy getting indignant about it, so he grins and buys it.

He gives it to Seabs to put it under their tree, so he doesn’t actually witness Shawzy opening it, which is kind of a pity, but can’t be helped.

Seabs texts him a photo of Shawzy’s face though, which is almost as good.

And Shawzy sends him a selfie of him and Carter, captioned with ‘ _Working to upgrade from world’s okayest dad_ ’ which is so sweet Brandon may have to make a dentist appointment to check for cavities.

 

**3.**

No one is surprised when Shawzy and Seabs get engaged over the Olympic break. Really, if they’re all completely honest with themselves they had been waiting for it. Brandon gets to be part of the wedding party, and well, maybe he didn’t expect that bit. But it also means he gets to watch Shawzy get ready and there’s no way he would have wanted to miss that. He doesn’t think he has seen him this nervous before. Brandon chirps him, because that’s how he and Shawzy work, but he gets it. If he was getting married to the love of his life he would be nervous, too.

And hell, it’s a beautiful wedding. They’re all charmed when Carter wants to be held by Shawzy right in the middle of the ceremony, and if Brandon hadn’t seen the look of love and complete devotion on Shawzy’s face before he might have been surprised by it. As things stand, he has probably seen it too often, or so he tells himself.

There’s the reception and cake and Brandon spends far too much time egging on Tazer and Kaner to do their dance off (not that they need to be convinced). As far as weddings go, it’s not the worst one Brandon has been to. And it’s absolutely worth it for how happy Shawzy is.

Brandon knows they have finally opened their wedding gifts when Shawzy sends him a picture of their breakfast table with the two mugs Brandon got them. Shawzy’s says ‘If Lost Return To Brent’ while Seabs’ says ‘I’m Brent’.

‘ _Nice one_ ’ Shawzy texts along with it and Brandon allows himself a satisfied smile.

 

**4.**

Playing in Calgary is… different. Brandon doesn’t hate it, and he has always known that getting traded might be part of his job. But actually going through the experience is not really what he expected it to be. At least he didn’t get traded in the middle of the season so he has more than enough time to find a place to live and get to know some of his new teammates.

He likes Calgary and the Flames well enough and by the time Christmas rolls around he’s feeling good enough about being there that he can crack jokes and mean them. He ends up getting everyone kind of the same thing. Shawzy’s new mug says “My friend went to Calgary and all he got me was this mug”, while Saader, Leddy and Smitty get t-shirts with a similar line.

“Your mug game is getting weak,” Shawzy chirps him when he calls to wish Brandon a Merry Christmas. But the tone of his voice tells Brandon that he gets it. It’s not the same as before.

 

**5.**

The Hawks win another Cup, which Brandon is fiercely proud of them for, much as he would have liked to win it himself.

A few days later Shawzy’s and Seabs’ second child is born, a daughter named Kenzie this time. Then Saader gets traded to Columbus.

None of them expected that last one and Shawzy’s so obviously worried that he invites Saader out to Kelowna and keeps the rest of them updated. Brandon gathers that Saader’s not taking it well, but Shawzy thinks he’ll be fine, which Brandon’s gonna trust him on.

The Flames aren’t playing the Blue Jackets until January so Brandon has to rely on what the others tell him, but it seems like Saader’s adjusting well, even if his new team is kind of sucking.

He debates for a while what he should get Shawzy for Christmas this year, and the idea doesn’t occur to him until he gets roped into doing an ad for the Flames’ ugly Christmas sweaters. Of course someone thinks it’s hilarious to give him a women’s sweater. Whatever, he knows he rocks it.

The fans eat it up, and his friends chirp him endlessly, but Brandon wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t own it. He has one of the photos that go with the video put on a mug to send Shawzy, and he writes a note to go with it that says, ‘ _So you don’t forget my face_ ’, but they both know it’s because Shawzy won’t be able to shut up about it in the first place, and Brandon’s completely fine with giving him a reason to.

  
  


**+1.**

It’s not exactly surprising when Shawzy gets traded to Montreal over the summer. They had all been waiting for it, and as proud as Brandon is of all of them and how far they’ve made it, it leaves a bitter aftertaste in his mouth when he realises that Shawzy was the last of their group. Judging by the reactions from Leddy and Smitty especially, he’s not the only one. They don’t mention it to Shawzy, they all know he’s going to be too wrapped up in dealing with being separated from his family. But they do talk about it among themselves and Brandon kind of wants to punch a wall when he thinks about how he was convinced at least Saader and Shawzy would get to stay.

Brandon watches as Shawzy bounces back, finds his place with the Habs and does a very good impression of being truly happy in Montreal, but they’re all onto him. They know he’s not unhappy, but this is Shawzy, who loves with all his heart and the same enthusiasm he pours into everything he does, and all of a sudden he has to deal with being away from the three (soon to be four) people who mean the most to him. Of course he’s not completely happy. He seems to be handling himself okay though, so Brandon releases a breath and takes one eye off Shawzy.

Of course that only means Shawzy gives him a new reason to worry, by getting a concussion. It’s somehow typical for him, and Brandon actually has to suppress a groan when he reads about it. He texts Seabs to call if they need help, and to keep him updated, if he can.

This year Brandon has an even harder time finding the right present for Shawzy. None of the jokey mugs quite cut it. Besides, he doesn’t want to give Shawzy a joke mug this year. He has worried about him too much, and Shawzy’s already going to miss Christmas with his family, so he’s probably going to be moping around.

He settles for being sincere instead, and gets him a “World’s Best Dad” mug. Because he knows Shawzy’s going to be beating himself up about not seeing his kids enough, and about missing Christmas with them because of his concussion. But whatever Shawzy thinks, he’s an amazing dad. Thanks to Seabs’ updates, Brandon knows that it will be a while before Shawzy will open any of his presents, but Brandon’s fine with that. Shawzy’s going to need all the cheering up he can get when he finally gets there.

 


End file.
